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The Road Drought

I’m currently reading Lance Henriksen‘s biography, Not Bad For A Human, a charming little piece in which the aging actor recalls his chaotic childhood traveling the world on his own and trying to find his way in life. As a young boy, he remembers an instance in which his mother made him appear on a radio talk show in New York. Callers would respond to the sympathetic pleas of guests with donations. According to Henriksen, his mother made up the biggest sob story you could ever think of, and he walked off the show with $100. His mother did what she needed to to allow herself and her children to eat.

You’d like to think that the Brewers have reached the point where they’d go to the same lengths to score some runs on the road. The Crew stranded eight men on base last night against the Dodgers, most of those at the hands of Carlos Gomez. They were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, and 2-for-14 on Monday night. As Tom Haudricourt points out, after Tuesday the Brewers were batting just .211 on the road with RISP.

Beg, borrow, or steal. Do whatever you need to to get some runs across the plate.

The Brewers finally looked desperate enough on Wednesday. There was aggressive baserunning, as Corey Hart got caught stealing second but then legged out a triple on a ball deep to left center. There were crushing doubles from Mark Kotsay and Prince Fielder that would have been home runs anywhere other than Petco Park. Hell, Jonathan Lucroy even stood in there as a ball grazed him with the bases loaded for an RBI hit by pitch.

Ron Roenicke doesn’t know what to make of his team’s inconsistent offense. For that, the first-year manager can be forgiven. For those of us who have watched this group of players for the last several years – Braun, Hart, Fielder, Weeks, McGehee – inconsistency has just become part of the game. They run hot and they run cold. It’s not something you try to explain; it’s just something you accept and try to make the best of. And when your bats go cold, you hope that your pitching is there to compensate. In past years, it hasn’t, but even though 25% of the season is behind us, there’s still hope that Zack Greinke and Shaun Marcum can make the difference in 2011.